Accident at Daycare

Shelby - posted on 11/25/2015
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My three year old was at daycare and was playing on a metal car toy they have. He was sitting on it and I guess decided to start climbing on it and fell and busted his lip all the way through. It required him to get stitches and also see a dentist because it busted his gum also. His insurance didn't cover the dentist visit and I do not have extra money to pay for the visit. My question is, is his school liable to pay for that office visit?

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Maru - posted on 07/24/2016

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I got a call from my sons daycare "the Goddard School" I pay $1,000 a month and have to bring diapers and his lunch daily. Wednesday they called me as I was pulling into their parking lot to let me know that "Sergio fell, he's bleeding badly but does not need stitches. He's just scared and I think he just needs you." Luckily I was within seconds from there. I ran and my son has scratches from his forehead, nose, fat lip and left arm. The teacher explained me that he tripped over a bicycle. Ha hand him over to me and I left. I was in shock because I have never seen my kid in such a bad shape. After talking to some mothers they said the Goddard school (very prestigious school) should have filed an injury report and provided me with a copy, they should have called an ambulance and checked if he had a concussion and last but not list they should have called me for a follow up on his well being. They did none of the mentioned. Is there's a protocol due to the school being so prestigious? Help!! Thoughts? Thank you for your input!!! Ah- on top of the expensive tuition I Have to provide dispers and pack his lunch, daily. He's my only child and I'm a single mom. Your input will be greatly appreciated!!!

Cathy--I can understand how hard it would be for the expense to fall to you for the accidents like that. But in a larger day care setting and I have worked in one, the teachers and aids are responsible to keep as good an eye on the kids as possible. If those teachers and aids were found to not have been paying attention to the kids, then they are responsible for taking care of the injuries. As for the in home care my son had, it was with a friend. I had asked for the mother's name and phone number to call her to have HER pay for the doctor visits as it was her child that kept on picking on mine to bite all the time. He was almost two years old and my son was just barely a year old and not yet walking. He could not defend himself by biting back or anything else. I think the parents of that other child should have been held responsible for the injuries. But the so called friend who was also the sitter would not do anything about it saying it was between her and the mother. I did not think so when my own child was involved. The sister of this friend had been there when the bites had happened and she told me that the kid would try to bite his own mother on the leg. I think the mother should have paid the medical expenses.

Kids will be kids I did daycare in my home for 7 years one time a little boy decided to take a dive off of my deck and chipped his front tooth should I have been responsible for the expense? Another time a little girl fell out of a wagon with a wood frame and cut her eyebrow had to have stiches should I have been responsible for the expense? Maybe in a large daycare center they have insurance they could cover it depending on the plan they have.

The problem is that most small daycares or home daycare carry no insurance except home owners insurance if they own their own home you could ask them. Even some rental appartments have some kind of accident insurance you may ask them.

It is hard to ask the daycares in home or other to pay for this kind of thing because if everyone wanted to be paid they would have a hard time staying in business.

Things will always happen to our kids no one can be there every minute and daycares overall I think do the best they can.

I hope you will keep your child in that daycare center or daycare home it is not there fault it is kids will be kids.

Maybe your dentist will let you make small payments toward the work some dentists do that.

Anyway I hope you will also check with the company you work for and see about some kind of dentist insureance some companies offer it. You can also by dental insurance of your own for your family anyway time to think on it because thing happen even in your home.

I am not trying to be hard or cold about this but I am sure that now is the time to find a way to cover any future problems with dental issues.

Do you have dental insurance? If so you could submit to them. If you don't it might be something to look into. At his age he should be having dental check ups every 6 months. Also as he gets older that risk of dental injury is still there and increases if he plays sports. As for the daycare you could ask as some may carry some insurance for injuries that happen at daycare. As for pressing the issues if they don't I would not go down that road if I liked the care they were giving. Accidents happen. I am sure they felt bad.

It depends on the laws in your state/area. Generally you must prove that your daycare had a duty to supervise the child in that play area, was careless in their duty, and that carelessness was a major cause of the child’s injury. You would also need to prove the child was injured in a foreseeable way, that the daycare should have known before-hand that a child could use the equipment in a non-standard way, and they did not take precautions to prevent harm.

Will they just pay out of the goodness of their hearts, my guess is no. You might be able to present your claim to the insurance carrier for the daycare facility and hope for an out-of-court settlement. You should have a personal injury lawyer review any settlement terms to make sure you're not signing away other benefits you may otherwise be entitled to. If the insurance company won't offer a settlement, or you are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the insurance carrier, and you believe the above conditions prove the daycare was at fault, then you could proceed to file a lawsuit for negligence against the daycare facility.

I ran into a similar situation. My son was an infant being cared for by a friend in her home where she watched other kids besides her two. SHe had another child start that was almost a year older and already walking and so on. He would come up to my son and bite him for no reason. My son came home with several harsh looking bites. This kid would bite through the shirt my son had on and leave marks, bleeding, and torn skin. We took my son to the doctor to get him checked out two times because the bites were so bad. AFter that last one I wanted to get the mother's name and number to get her to pay the doctor bills and meds. The sitter (friend of mine) would not do it. SHe said it was between her and the mother of this child to get it fixed. I said no...it involved me now and she should have to pay the doctor visits. So we pulled my kids from the so called friend who babysat for me. We never got the money for the doc visis...so hard to say. I would have a talk with the director on this.